Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said Tuesday he had received help in past elections from members of the Unification Church, becoming the latest ruling party lawmaker to disclose connections with the group at the center of controversy over the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
"I have associated with a few members (of the church) and received their help as volunteers," Kishi, Abe's younger brother, said at a news conference, adding that he believed they had provided support in a phone campaign aimed at voters.
Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, was fatally shot by a lone gunman while giving a campaign speech outside a train station in the western city of Nara on July 8, two days before the House of Councilors election in which the Liberal Democratic Party scored a sweeping victory.